Tories and Labour Leave an Open Door for Fortnightly Collections

The Labour and Conservative Groups on Bedford Borough Council last night voted to look into introducing fortnightly rubbish collections, and failed to back the Lib Dems' call to reject fortnightly waste collections and instead focus on the promotion and extension of the existing 'orange bag' recycling scheme. Both the Tories and Labour supported an amendment to investigate the option of introducing fortnightly collections, and refused to join the Lib Dems in opposing the County Council's attempts to roll out fortnightly collections across the county.

Labour and the Conservatives also voted to keep the door open for microchips in bins. The Liberal Democrats believe that rather than punish people via chips in bins, the council should work in partnership with them to help them reduce waste and recycle more. However, both the Labour and Tory Groups voted to retain the option of chips in bins for Bedford Borough.

Commenting on the issue, Bedford Borough Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Michael Headley said:

"The Labour and the Tory groups both had an excellent opportunity to send a clear message to Bedford Borough residents that the council does not intend to force fortnightly rubbish collections or microchips in bins onto them. Instead they chose to leave the door wide open for both of these options.'

"It is extremely unfortunate that neither of these groups were willing to follow the example of the Liberal Democrat Group, who have listened to what residents have said loud and clear in a public consultation in 2004 when fortnightly collections were overwhelmingly rejected'

"The council should be working with residents to improve recycling levels and reduce waste overall, for example by making it easier for people to recycle through improved facilities at blocks of flats and the inclusion of a greater range of materials in the recycling scheme. We must not antagonise and alienate people by forcing unpopular and counterproductive fortnightly collections and microchips in bins onto them. That is why we are campaigning to Keep Our Weekly Collections."